India has second highest number of Internet users after China: Report

However, with only 36 per cent internet penetration, there is still much headroom for growth, the report said.

In terms of absolute numbers, urban India with 192 million users had almost the same number of users as rural India.

Bengaluru: With 451 million monthly active internet users at end of financial year 2019, India is now second only to China in terms of internet users, according to a report by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

However, with only 36 per cent internet penetration, there is still much headroom for growth, it said.

The report said that of the 451 million monthly active users, 385 million are over 12 years of age and 66 million are in the age bracket of 5 to 11 years, who access Internet on the devices of family members.

The report stated that in terms of absolute numbers, urban India with 192 million users had almost the same number of users as rural India. However, in terms of percentages or penetration, given the disparity of population distribution in urban and rural India, urban India had a considerably higher penetration level.

In rural India, a sizeable portion does not have access to Internet, and provides a huge opportunity for growth which will contribute to an increase in the overall Internet population over the next few years, it said.

According to the report, nearly 2/3rd of the Internet population in India were daily users. 9 out of 10 users’ in urban accessed the Internet at least once a week with young users, aged between 16-29 years being the most frequent users. However, there is still a section of users, who used Internet less than ‘once a week’. About 1 in 5 rural Internet users belonged to this category.

In India, nearly 1/3rd of users accessed Internet for ‘more than one hour’ in urban India, where as in rural India, a similar proportion of users accessed Internet for 15-30 minutes. With better connectivity, quality of service and affordability of mobile Internet, there could be an increase in rural consumers spending more time on the internet in future, the report stated.

The report also indicated that there is a clear gender disparity when it comes to internet usage in India as there were less number of female Internet users in India as compared to male internet users.

The female internet users’ population is half of the 258 million male Internet users, and the bias is more evident in rural India. Among States, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Delhi have a higher proportion of female Internet users.

The report stated that 2/3rd of Internet users in India are in the age group of 12-29 years. Interestingly, a higher proportion of this age group is seen in rural India. This is indicative of the fact that there is potential for growth in this segment.